Strategy Execution

Looking Glass Consulting (LGC) is an innovative technology partner that can assist credit unions in delivering strategic value through the establishment of a Project Management Office (PMO). With a PMO in place, an organization can expect to see greater project success, a reduction in project-related inefficiencies, and better resource utilization. This is accomplished by establishing standards for the management of the portfolio of projects as well as project implementations.

LGC offers PMO services that include

• Phase 1: Discovering current project oversight and management practices, determining maturity level, and providing recommendations for improvement based on desired outcomes.
• Phase 2: Implementing accepted recommendations which could including setting up a governance structure, developing new project process flows and tools, training organizational leaders and project team members, and providing support to help solidify new habits.

During the discovery, maturity and recommendation phase, LGC will take a deep dive into the current project process, staffing, and technology. This phase includes reviewing strategic and business plans, organizational structure, and job descriptions to gain an understanding of objectives and current support structure for project management. Through stakeholder interviews and a facilitated process mapping exercise, existing tools, methods, templates, and project process flows will be documented and evaluated to uncover inconsistencies, pain points and gaps.

All the information will be analyzed and compared against a maturity model that is based on Gartner research. This model has five levels of maturity that describes the current state of project management practices. A customized recommendation will be developed to help the credit union obtain the next level of maturity. 

In partnership with the credit union, the next phase includes implementing agreed upon items from the recommendation.  This includes:

• Establishing a PMO with a defined purpose, objective and success criteria 
• Forming a governing body with defined functions and activities 
• Implementing a process flow and tools to support the primary project management process groups of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring & controlling, and closing
• Creating project status reporting and communications plan
• Implementing tools to clarify project objectives and scope as well as roles and responsibilities
• Training leaders and project stakeholders on project management principles as well as the new tools, methods and processes

After the implementation, LGC will provide support to assist with establishing new practices.  Ideally, during this time one or two pilot projects would be identified to utilize what has been put in place.  LGC will provide guidance to monitor the health and effectiveness of the PMO and implement best practices that maximize the delivery of strategic initiatives, reduces inefficiencies, improves project success, and increases staff capabilities. 

In addition to the PMO offering, LGC has a project management offering to help credit unions execute on their strategies. 

An experienced Project Manager (PM) will help improve project success, reduce inefficiencies, and enhance communication around projects. This is accomplished by partnering with the project sponsor to establish standards and accountability to ensure projects, and programs are managed in a repeatable, standardized way. This includes:

• Creating a project charter to clarify project scope and high-level deliverables
• Developing and managing a project plan  
• Negotiating and managing vendor relationships
• Creating agreements with the sponsor and team to ensure understanding, accountability, and decision authority 
• Developing reporting that highlights roadblocks, timelines, and budget variance

The Project Manager will follow the organization’s process and use the established tools.  PM will deliver strategic value through project implementation and reporting.